Republic of Texas ~ 1835-1845

     In 1803 Thomas Jefferson negotiated the treaty by which "Louisiana" was purchased from France. The land had not been definitively explored; the boundary between French and Spanish land claims had not been settled. United States SCN 327 shows a map of the Louisiana Purchase with the southern boundary passing through Texas between the Sabine and Trinity Rivers on the east and between the sources of the Pecos and the Canadian Rivers on the west.
     In 1819 Secretary of State John Quincy Adams and Spanish minister Luis de Onis y Gonzales reached agreement on a boundary between Spanish and United States territories. From east to west it followed the Sabine River north from the Gulf of Mexico to 32°N, then due north to the Red River; along the river to 100°W, then north to the Arkansas River; along the Arkansas River to its source then due north to 42°N, and west to the Continental Divide in Wyoming. This is the eastern boundary of the Republic of Texas on the card.
     When the Republic of Texas gained its independence in 1836 Mexico disputed the western boundary. Texas claimed the Rio Grande to its source, and then due north to 42°N. This is the west-most boundary on the card. Mexico conceded a much smaller area shown on the card by the line of dots.
     In 1845 Texas voted to join the Union and was accepted as a State. In 1848 the United States-Mexican War ended with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. In the Compromise of 1850 Texas ceded the land outside its present boundaries.